Nissan really made a breakthrough when it first launched Qashqai. The Japanese manufacturer managed to conquer a segment that was about to grow in a way no one predicted.
Now, in 2016, after more than nine years since the first Qashqai reached its European client, Nissan has built more Qashqais than any other car in its three decades of manufacturing in Europe.
The Qashqai reached 2,368,705 units to overtake the Micra in less than 10 years. Nissan’s Sunderland plant continues to produce around 1,200 Qashqais every day, and by the end of February 2016 the total stood at 2,398,134 units. No other car in the history of the UK car industry has gone beyond 2m units in such a short period of time.
Styled and engineered for European customers in Nissan’s UK-based design and technical centres, the Qashqai is Nissan’s top-selling car in Europe. It’s also the best-selling crossover in Europe, requiring round-the-clock production since 2010.
In September 2015 the second-generation Qashqai became the fastest ever UK-built vehicle to smash the half-million production mark. Today, a new Qashqai is built every 62 seconds, or 58 per hour, at the Sunderland site.
Later this year, Nissan will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Sunderland facility, which now manufactures the Qashqai and Juke crossovers, the all-electric LEAF, the Note hatchback and the new Infiniti Q30 premium compact car.
